Premier League drama is better off the field

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The Premier League table has made pretty interesting reading this season, what with Aston Villa and Chelsea threatening the end of the Big Four era and Tottenham stuck far too low down the standings for the comfort of their fans.

Sadly, the football itself is not providing the same level of drama.

A quick glance at the 2008/09 Player of the Year candidates shows the theme of this season rather nicely: defence.

Edwin van der Sar, Nemanja Vidic, in fact pretty much anyone involved with defensive duties at Manchester United, might scoop this year’s award and good on them. But this accent on defensive excellence won’t be getting many pulses racing.

Nobody brags about their side’s fantastic clean sheet on Saturday. Supporters want to relive ‘that’ goal, that sublime attacking display that resulted in a 4-0 drubbing for some sorry team.

If that’s what you’re after, you may be better to switch over to the Spanish League and watch free-scoring Barcelona, because for all its twists and turns this season, Premier League sides have served up some awful matches.

There’s plenty to talk about as always, from Manchester City’s transfer targets to the arrival of Guus Hiddink at Chelsea and the endlessly quotable Rafa Benitez but I’d gladly swap it all for Cristiano Ronaldo’s goalscoring form of last season or a few more repeats of the only great match I can think of this season: Arsenal and Tottenham’s 4-4 draw.

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I'm a company news reporter covering the retail and leisure sectors. Based in London I write on everything from the big retailers to fashion chains, hotels, drinks firms, pubs and coffee shops. I've previously covered the outsourcing sector and before that worked on Reuters sport for three years.
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